OT 12-14-09

OT Notes 12-14-09
Ben Collins
OT Laws and how to handle them

Sometimes we get fuzzy on what is Moral and what is Civil. The lines are fuzzy at times. We have the three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial.
Example of Civil Law: Ex. 20:2 (is there anything moral about it? Is this a helpful category?) Kills an ox... return this and that. Has nothing to do with morality? No, there are presuppositions. These are illustrative examples of what love looked like for them. Even though i don’t have an ox or a sheep, there are things that i can learn from here. This can become a devotional law for me. This is how we can understand both positive and negative perspectives of Paul.

Ceremonial Laws: Lev. 20:22... all things clean and unlclean
Do all these things so that the land will not VOMIT you out. Shall not do what other nations... being separate from the nations. Separate clean and unclean... so that you might be mine.”” don’t eat pork... owe nothing to anyone, for the one who loves has fulfilled the law... any other commandment is summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself... soo how does not eating pork come into loving your neighbor. Love your neighbor by meeting their need of being with God. If it isn’t ethics it’s going to be outward deeds... being separate involves mission. Drawing attention to God, the tabernacle, most loving act is showing God to people, and so by following these laws we are able to love our neighbor.
Uses of OT law::: 3 traditional views... 1) general clarity of what is good. 2) crushes us to point us to Christ 3) pedagogical: teaching/instructive (Luther only used the first two, not this third part) CALVIN made this pedagogical point... Calvin’s commentary on Deut. 230 sermons in 2 years. The Laws, all of them, can be used devotionally.

National history of death... not a rosy picture at all. Reading through Kings... sighhed... read more about the people that turned on God and got killed. The weightiness of sin hit her, and then it really hit Dr. D. For centuries the Godly remnant has been instructed their children in these stories, and now we see the fruit of the Old Cov being death. The Old Cov. is one of death and when you deny Christ’s power and place in redemptive history then you are going back to death. Going back to death, a covenant of death.

Romans 3: none righteous no not one... who are the righteous in the text that he is talking about? Paul how can you say that there are none righteous??? The psalms give clarity for what that righteousness is... it was a person that saw their sin and relied on God fully for righteousness.

Can we really love the Lord? yes, but we can’t do it fully and perfectly. Not going to be perfect until glory! Understand enablement in the now but not yet. While we have a new nature and the spirit of God is in us, we aren’t fully there. Some say that “God never demanded perfection...” uhhh no! Jesus is the only answer to our eternal justification.


OT Law’s Relevance to Christians: DeRo’s View
Terminology
Meaning: the meaning of a text that pattern of meaning the author willed ot convey by the words (shareable symbols) he used”
Implication: Implications are those meanings in a text of which the author was unaware but nevertheless legitimately fall within the pattern of meaning he willed”
Eph. 5:18; 1 Tim 2:9-10
Haggard lookin guy with the glass of alcohol a day.
some say, Paul didn’t say Jack Daniel’s or BL... so let’s drink it up! Paul would say “YOU DIDN”T HEAR ME!” In the context of evil days people are prone to go to the bottle. Whenever we are dealing with specific applications, we need to not only look at smaller things like Jack Daniel’s and such but also beyond to the greater implication beyond what was normally being said.
1 Tim 2:9-10 braided hair, gold, pearls and costly attire... Pearls during the great expansion, time of Master and Commander... western expanders that come in, island has pearls everywhere, kids play with pearls like marbles. Copper button, social classes determined by copper button. Paul wouldn’t say, i never mentioned copper buttons, so you’re ok. No! There is a big meaning behind this.
When we look at OT laws as well, we need to try to see the big waffle.
Key Propositions: pg 33 chart.
The NT calls for followers to fulfill the original intention of the OT law in all its forms
Love is the original intention of the Law
Jesus Matt 22:37-39
Paul Gal 5:14
there is a love principle that is operative here and i might need to hear it.
Love is what comes through!
The whole law - criminal, case, family, cultic, compassionate, has direct relevance to the NT believer in the way it serves as an expression of love in action.
A process for applying OT Law:
HANDOUT!!!
A process for Applying OT Law:
Determin the type, funciton and objectiv/purpose of the OT law (including implications)
Type: criminal, case, family, cultic, compassionate?
Function: primary secondary, supportive?
Purpose: who? what? Where? When? Why? How? How often? To what extent?
ALSO SEE HANDOUT
State the principle behind the law, noting how love is being manifest.
Preserve the principle, but change the context.
Deut 22: 1-3 ““You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it.”
(Deuteronomy 22:1–3 ESV)
Type: compassionate
Function: secondary b/c it isn’t a general principle.
Purpose: to build a service-focused community that respects others and their belongings. (rom 13:10 Deut 5:21)
Principle: (don’t ignore it! Seek out there needs!) Loving your brother means you will treat with care and return if possible any of his lost possessions. Love is to impact our dealing with others and helping them find lost things. New Covenant doesn’t disregard any of this. Even though this may have lead to death, it still holds the principle up, loving each other. Love is empowered by Spirit of Christ in us. Marriage and all of that is in the context of being filled with the Spirit.
Deut 22:4... skippin over it.
Deut 22:5... ““A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.”
geber, not used that often, related to warrior gebor... how is this an abomination
(Deuteronomy 22:5 ESV)
Type: the word “abominable” isn’t a throw away word. Blurring gender issues, cultic area of symbolism... criminal against Yahweh, family law.
Function: secondary
Purpose: maintain gender roles, what would make this abominable???, if it is something in the dress that changes specific dress.
Principle: what is at stake is these are the things that can be controlled... control mannerisms and pitches that people talk in. Loving others (and God) means we will clearly display our gender through our dress (and action) New Context???
Deut 22:6-7 ““If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.”
(Deuteronomy 22:6–7 ESV)
It says enjoy your omelet! save the mother so that there are omelets for others to come. Sustain creation so that others can have it. Serving doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it, but our responsibility is bigger than me! This text is hugely important!
If you eat the mother, then there won’t be chickens for the next generations, so that it may go well with you and also live long. Hezekiah’s problems. You are looking out for yourself here as well.
New Context: fishing, hunting, limits... all of that